With the opening of Colorful Colorado at the Garden, there’s a big splash of fun on the downtown scene. The pop-up patio bar is here for the summer as the Atlas Restaurant Group’s newest sister concept to its popular Piglatin Cocina, COATI and others. And while those other hot spots can’t be described as understated, Colorful Colorado cranks up the volume to a new level of bold, bright fun.
“We’re leaning really, really hard into the idea of color, almost to an extreme,” says Aaron Ewton, founder of Atlas Restaurant Group.
You might recognize the patio space at the corner of Nevada Avenue and Costilla Street as the watering hole formerly known as The Garden. The Atlas Group acquired the space last fall after The Garden shut down. The evolution to Colorful Colorado at the Garden is a summer pop-up with plans for bigger changes in the future.
The concept draws its inspiration from the big, brown Welcome to Colorful Colorado highway signs posted at the Centennial State’s borders. You know those signs. They always made Ewton chuckle and roll his eyes, especially when driving in from New Mexico or Kansas in the dead of winter. “I see this comically brown sign proclaiming Colorful Colorado, and of course, it’s on the borders which are predominantly open plains or arid desert,” he says. “Depending on the time of year, it’s like brown fields of wheat or grass or brown dirt and rock.”
Embracing the dichotomy and the seasonal irony felt like permission to embrace and unleash a full palette of bright, bold color, Aaron says. “We wanted to poke fun at how drab and brown our state can be, but we also want to show our gratitude for the days when the sky explodes with color and we find ourselves day-drinking on a patio, swapping stories about the unexpected splashes of color you encountered throughout the week.”
The team also wanted to proclaim its love for the Springs, which prompted bright, giant COS letters at the front of the patio — perfect for selfies — backed up with a boxwood hedge maze in the shape of ILY. Put it together: COS, I love you.
“We want to show appreciation to the creative people who live in Colorado Springs and the bold ideas that surface in and around the city everyday,” Ewton says. “Our giant COS, ILY letters in the front of the patio are for us to remember that although we joke about the mundane, we are incredibly lucky to live in and call the Springs home. We wanted a landmark sign to remind us of our local pride.”
There’s also an interior wall covered with a street map of the Springs and markers for people to pinpoint where they live. The creative team drew inspiration from the nonprofit COS I Love You as they ideated about how to express the sentiment in their own way, Ewton says.
“We always say, ‘You’re not allowed to complain about your community or your city unless you’re willing to do something about it.’ So instead of complaining that the Springs doesn’t have anything to offer, it’s like, well, how are you making it more colorful? How are you making it more vibrant?” Ewton says. “So there’s a call to action there. And at the same time, a really big nod to the people that are really changing our community and bringing music and art and events. There’s inspiration all around us.”
It all fits within the Atlas Group’s mission “to create a uniquely vibrant city.” It’s a lofty and worthy goal, no doubt, but it doesn’t keep Ewton and company from taking themselves too seriously in the process.
For proof, look no further than the menu. Atlas Group’s beverage director Lazlo Steele held nothing back with this collection of full-flavored cocktails featuring plenty of tongue-in-cheek names, from the Big Daq Energy to the Chambong. “It’s just what it sounds,” Ewton says. “It’s like a champagne flute, but it has a spout on the end of it. You know, we’re cheersing and chugging champagne.”
Colorful Colorado at the Garden has its own industrial cotton candy machine on-site, and it gets plenty of use for garnishes. The Watermelon Mezcal High includes watermelon scoops dusted with Pop Rocks candy and a silly straw. A sweet presentation for sure, but the smoke of the mezcal still shines through. The Monarch, their version of a white Negroni, is adorned with a hand-size butterfly. And groups can enjoy towers of rose or share buckets of frozen cocktails through straws. Of course, there will be a full schedule of weekly parties and events starting soon.
You get the idea: fun, festive and celebratory. “There’s a lot of edible glitter,” Ewton says, noting there are plenty of classic cocktails and traditional beer and shot specials too.
The food follows suit with bold flavor mash-ups. There’s not a full kitchen, but enough to serve heavy appetizers and sharable plates dreamed up by the Piglatin and Anju Korean Eats teams and their chef Andres Velez. One of the most popular dishes? The Glizzy Dawg Quad. “It’s about the fanciest hot dog you could get: all-beef, bacon wrapped with green chile, onion jam, pickled jalapeño, pepper jack cheese,” Ewton says. “At first I was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t want a hot dog on the menu.’ Then we had it at the tasting, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we have to have this on the menu.’ It’s been one of the most popular items.”
Yes, it’s good, but even better in our opinion is the Loaded Prosciutto Bruschetta. The focaccia bread base is sourced from Chef Alex Hankins at COATI’s Haole Hawaiian Grindz and topped with ricotta, onion jam, prosciutto, cantaloupe, vegan honey, radish and micro greens. It’s a heaping, tantalizing burst of sweet and savory flavor. (You can check out the full menu at colorfulcos.com.)
For long-term renovation, the Atlas Group plans to build some better weatherproofing for year-round enjoyment. But the team didn’t want to wait to open and miss out on the busy summer season or leave a hole in the downtown streetscape. So for now, Colorful Colorado at the Garden is a summer pop-up with an evolution to come.
“Honestly, it’s been a lot of fun to have this permission to play with the idea of a pop-up and that there is no wrong,” Ewton says. “I just keep telling the team, be creative. If the community votes, and they hate it, that’s on me. And it’s OK because we’re here for a good time, not for a long time.”
It’s a perfect summer fling.
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